


Hold On Tighter

by TheMaddestOfAll



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M, Post 3x21, Spoilers, betty is full of hope, bughead - Freeform, jughead came to save his girl, the Farm
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-29
Updated: 2019-05-29
Packaged: 2020-03-29 11:57:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19019461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheMaddestOfAll/pseuds/TheMaddestOfAll
Summary: Betty is in an impossibly tough situation, but she never gives up hope. Edgar Evernever might be the devil incarnate, but he is nothing compared to one very pissed off Jughead Jones.A 3x21 missing scene write.





	Hold On Tighter

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go! This is my first ever fic! Okay, I might have attempted things in the past, but this is the first time that Iv'e even considered posting. This is a missing moment from 3x21 where Betty is being prepared for her procedure. This might not be the best, but I am extremely proud of me right now.

The smell of sterile alcohol and formaldehyde hang in the air like thick smog in the cold makeshift operating room. The chemicals cling to the inside of Betty’s nose and her mouth feels like sandpaper. Judging by the large ticking wall clock, it’s been an hour since her old high school best friend helped two men in white coats drag her in here. The same friend who slept over at the Cooper house, trading secrets with Betty until the sun came up. The same friend that stuck by her side during Freshman year, when her weight was suddenly a hot topic of discussion. Kevin was no longer that friend. Now, he was a brainwashed cut follower who was probably missing a kidney. There was an ache somewhere low in her chest that she couldn’t quite place. It felt like someone was trying to rip the muscle strands out of her body one by one. 

A high-pitched scream from a few corridors over, fills the air. A scream that Betty has only heard a few other times. 

Cheryl. 

She had finally gotten through to Cheryl, showing her that the Farm wasn’t the rainbows and sunshine group like Edgar had preached. Toni was supposed to have a ‘procedure’ done soon. The thought of a long angry scar covering the pink haired girl’s body, was enough to make her sick. 

Currently, there are only a few pieces of hope that Betty can bear to hold onto. Maybe Toni and Cheryl can find a way out of this hell hole, maybe they can find someone who can help, maybe they can find Jughead. A few silent tears roll down Betty’s face as she thinks of Jughead, digging up Jason’s grave, trying to figure out the insane mystery of the Gargoyle King slash Black Hood Return, completely oblivious to her current situation. A year ago, he was calling her to say that he would never stop loving her, right before surrendering himself to a pit of Ghoulies. 

Look how far we’ve come, she thinks bitterly. 

Part of her wants Jughead to break through the doors with Sweet Pea and the Poisons trailing behind. But she knows that right here, right now, the only thing coming through those doors will be Edgar and his instruments of torture. 

The thick itchy material of the cheap hospital gown they shoved her in rubs raw patches across Betty’s thighs. Her ankles and wrists are wrapped in though leather binds connected to the metal edges of the morgue table she’s laying uncomfortably on. The heavy door swings open and a pair of nurses straight out of Silent Hill shuffle in, They’re stuck in their own conversation, either oblivious to how wrong the situation is, or too brainwashed to care. As a petite brunette nurse makes her way over to Betty, her heeled shows clack on the tiled linoleum. She grabs an IV stand with bags of saline and starts to thread them up. Betty’s breathing quickens as she realizes what the nurses intentions are. 

I guess this is really happening. 

The nurse pulls Betty’s arm out and away from the table, readies the needle, and sinks it parallel to her elbow. Needles have never bothered Betty, but something about this nurse’s cold hands and sticky sweet smile make her stomach twist into itself. 

The other woman, plump with jet black hair, wheels a small cart over next to the table. Various tools are laid out with Iodine prep supplies off to the left. A small saw with a giant blade attachment catches Betty’s eye more than anything. 

What the hell kind of second-hand surgery is Edgar performing? 

An empty sinking feeling settles through her body as she tries to even out her breathing and ecstatic heart rate. The last time she had felt like this was when her father chased her through the halls of the school. Jughead had been her savior then, but this time? It looks like she might have to live with whatever Edgar has planned. 

Betty praises herself on being able to get out of situations on her own. The Nancy Drew handbook taught her more than a 12-year-old should ever know. She never wanted to rely on a prince to save her, but if a particular Beanie wearing boy were to rush to her rescue, you wouldn’t hear her complain. 

Loud menacing footsteps echo through the barren hall, and Betty’s heart leaps to her throat. The swinging door opens and a tall male figure stops just shy of the orange tinted overhead light. 

Edgar. 

His musty chemical smell fills the room and makes Betty’s eyes water, far different than Jughead’s comforting pine soap and leather scent. “Hello Betty.” Edgar’s charming voice is supposed to calm and soothe his ‘patients’, but instead, it makes Betty’s skin crawl. “Are you ready for your procedure?”

“Go to hell!” She spits back at him, twisting and pulling away from the table. 

“Now Elizabeth, be a good girl for me. This will be over before you know it.” His lips curl into a sly smile as he reaches for the restraint tied around her wrist. Betty flinches when he grabs the leather cuff, securing it impossibly tight. Goosebumps scatter down her arms, despite the anger coursing through her veins. 

“They’ll come for me,” Betty sneers, gritting her teeth. “Jughead, The Serpents, The Poisons. They'll storm this place and tear it down with you still in it!” 

For a moment, Edgar is silent, the only noise in the room coming from the beeping machines and Betty’s heavy breathing. He lightly chuckles for a few seconds, but before she can formulate a thought, he grabs her face, forcing her eyes to his. His grip is deadly, turning the skin around his knuckles white. “You seriously think that anyone is coming to save you? This isn’t a fantasy land, there aren’t any knights in shining armor here.” He releases his grip and shoves her away, turning toward the nurses across the room. Her heartbeat pounds through her ears, and her hands itch to curl in on themselves. 

Jughead will come. He has to. 

Edgar whisper commands to the nurses and a few seconds later, they scurry out the door. He wheels another small cart next to the table and begins assembling the tools. “You know Betty, if you would have stopped investigating, you wouldn’t be in this situation.” He places his thumb on the opposite side of Betty’s head, while his other hand picks up a black marker. He makes a small black line next to her eyebrows on each side. 

Incision points. 

“All of that is in the past now though. You’re out of time.”

“FUCK YOU!” She seethes, wiggling out of his grasp. Several doors slam in the distance, but Edgar doesn’t show any concern as he reaches for the anesthesia mask. “Well, shall we?” He places the mask across her nose, but Betty refuses to go without a fight. She does whatever she can, wiggling, turning, biting, but eventually he secures it behind her head. She tries to slow her breaths, but the gas makes her head fuzzy and her eyes blurry. More doors slam down the hall, closer this time.

She clings to whatever she has left, refusing to pass out. Then, a voice calls out, feminine and sassy. “Cheryl!” Betty has only heard this voice a few times, but she’s certain it belong to Toni’s friend, the dark-skinned ex serpent. 

The Poisons. 

Another voice calls out, more familiar and urgent. “Fangs! Cheryl! Blondie!” Sweet Pea. The Serpents. 

Edgar rushes to the door and peers out of the circular opening. He locks the deadbolt and pushes a cart in front of it, knocking over several bottles. Now, many voices are yelling out, searching for anyone who they can save. Her head hurts and her eyelids are heavy, but a single word, a single voice, snaps her awake. “Betts can you hear me?” That single voice forces tears out of her eyes, the obvious urgency and pain ripping her heart out. She would recognize that voice anywhere, she’d spent 3 years memorizing it. The raspiness it has after he smokes a cigarette, the way it cracks when it fills with emotion, the way it can be cold and harsh to some, and then soft and light for her. Jughead. 

Their footsteps are getting closer, and Edgar looks completely panicked. Even with the mask on, and the fact that she’s really tired, she gets his attention. Her words come out small and pained, but she’s determined. 

“I told you he’d come...you were wrong. We..beat..you.” Sleep takes over her body, but hours later when she’s crying into Jughead’s shoulder, she’ll remember everything they've been through, and hold on a little tighter.


End file.
